“I know what that means!” a boy at the front table exclaimed with a beaming smile.

“Tell us,” I said.

“How rich is the life!” he translated with pride. Then four other students raised their hands to share they also spoke Spanish.

“How wonderful that you know other languages,” I said. Then I asked the class, “what other languages do you know?”

Celebrate Multilingualism

In this elementary school with a small population of English Learners, most students are monolingual. The few who speak another language were excited to raise their hands and share. One boy told us he knew how speak Tagalog. Another told us he spoke Laotian. Each time a student shared a language, I asked if the student could teach us a word. I, and then the class, repeated the new words we learned.

A girl raised her hand and said, I have German blood, but I don’t speak German. I want to learn German. Another girl shared a sentence she had learned in French.

“I speak Quechua,” one girl who also spoke Spanish told us. “I’m from Peru!” She said she wanted to speak five languages, but now “only” knew three. Of course, the rest of us were impressed. Even more so when I taught the class to count to five in Mandarin Chinese and the same student trilingual in Spanish, English, and Quechua told me, “Three is the same in Chinese and Japanese.”

“Look how your multilingual brain is making connections!” I said. She was right, san in Mandarin means three, the same as san in Japanese. I added, “Looks like you know more than three languages!”

The Power of a Single Conversation

In one conversation, we made multilingualism something to celebrate in the classroom community. We made students’ language assets visible and valued. In an English classroom like this, where the few ELs have high levels of English proficiency, it’s easy for their multilingual assets to be invisible.

You don’t even need to know other languages to lead the change. With a few small shifts, every teacher can transform the classroom learning environment to value students’ multiple languages. Try these ten actions.

10 Easy Actions for Every Teacher

Here are ten easy ways to value ELs’ primary languages in your classroom. These work in any setting, whether you have many students gifted with multilingualism or just one. The fewer multilingual students in your school, the more essential it is for you to use these strategies. Be the change!

Be Excited about Language Assets.

Ask a simple question, as I did in my son’s classroom: “Who speaks another language?” If you speak another language, you can mix it up by first asking in the language you speak, and then in English. When students share the languages they speak, be impressed. When students want to learn other languages, celebrate this vision.

Build Multilingual Greetings into Your Routine.

It’s easy to learn “good morning” in every language in your classroom community by asking people, or consulting Google Translate. For a quick routine that takes less than a minute, start the day by chorally saying “good morning” together in each language in your school community. You can extend beyond greetings, as well, to teach and use words like thank you, yes, or no in other languages. One first-grade teacher, for example, taught her students to say no in Urdu (nahe), and had them chorally say nahe when they disagreed with an idea she shared.

Take Risks to Learn New Languages.

With respect and mutual trust, ask multilingual learners to teach you a word or phrase in their language. You can also research first using Google Translate or Duolingo to learn something simple, then take a risk to try saying it in class. Be humble. Accept feedback. Have a growth mindset that you can learn to pronounce sounds that may be really hard to hear and pronounce at first. Your risk-taking sets a positive example for ELs to take more risks with English.

Use Home Languages to Build Background.

Especially when you have emerging ELs who are fluent in another language, invite them to read or watch videos about the high-level concepts and topics you are teaching to build background before each lesson. “When students first build background in concepts and topics in their primary language, they will have an easier time making meaning from your speech and texts on that topic in English” (Singer, 2018, p. 24).

Use Cognates to Teach Vocabulary.

When students are fluent in a romance language (e.g., Spanish, French, or Italian), use cognates to help them learn new words in English. A cognate is a word that has similar spelling and meaning across two (or more) languages, such as the following cognates in English and Spanish: education and educación, inference and Some estimate that 80 percent of English words, and even more in the context of science teaching, have cognates (Bravo, Hiebert, and Pearson, 2007). (Flip to EL Excellence p. 125 to learn the cognate strategy).

Be Curious about English “Errors.”

These can provide insights into understanding what might not transfer from a students’ first language. What sounds like an “error” is often an application from a grammatical rule in the first language. Reflect, “What can I learn from this about my students’ understanding of how to use language? Would that use of grammar or vocabulary make sense in the student’s primary language or home dialect?” (Singer, 2018, p. 26). If you don’t speak the primary language, consult a fluent speaker to learn more.

Encourage Peer Conversations.

Peer conversations in a home language help emerging ELs (and all who have the asset of multilingualism) access rigorous content learning. Use this strategy when you have two or more students with fluency in the same language. Create opportunities for the students to use the home language to discuss prior knowledge, clarity complex concepts, clarify task directions, and/or identify questions for deeper learning. In an English classroom, this is a powerful support that leverages an Emerging bilingual students’ assets to deepen learning. In addition, when your primary instructional goal is English language development, structure English conversation tasks with appropriate scaffolds to engage ELs at all proficiency levels in academic conversations English.

Use Multilingual Texts.

Start with this Amazing Video. Videos are powerful for teaching many concepts, and also can make great “text” for literary analysis. Include international videos in other languages that feature subtitles to help students understand the content. Use this five-minute short about a soccer team, for example, to analyze theme or discuss problem-solving, collaboration, and character traits such as persistence. Even if the language of the video isn’t a language your students speak, using multilingual sources in your instruction is another way to model valuing multiple perspectives, languages, and voices.

Encourage Families to Use Their Language(s).

The evidence is clear: the use of primary language(s) promotes academic achievement in English (Francis, Lesauz, and August, 2006). Encourage families to read together and engage in discussions in their primary languages(s). Celebrate ongoing connections with extended family members (via video calls and free chat apps, for example) to continue to strengthen students’ language and cultural skills.

Be an Advocate for Multilingualism.

Even if you are new to other languages and your school context is completely English, you can be an advocate for multilingualism. Encourage your school district to offer research-based bi-literacy programs such as dual-language programs that benefit both ELs and students who speak English as their home language. Be an advocate for your state to recognize the Seal of Biliteracy so kids who build proficiency in two or more languages graduate with this recognition to bring their assets to college and career growth.

Creating a classroom and school community that values students’ languages is a win-win for ELs and non-ELs. You create a community that builds on students’ assets to enrich all learning and prepare students to thrive in a globalized world.

***

These are ten of many possibilities. What other ideas will you add to this list?

]]>https://tonyasinger.com/valueellanguageassets/feed/7Share the Surprisehttps://tonyasinger.com/surprise/
https://tonyasinger.com/surprise/#commentsThu, 05 Jul 2018 18:09:31 +0000https://tonyasinger.com/?p=2287When I dedicated my new bestseller to a family I had not seen in 25 years, I decided to travel to Mexico City to surprise them in person. Watch the moment I share the surprise.

I cried at realizing how profoundly a family I had not seen in 25 years had influenced my life.

I cried because I wanted to thank them in person.

In that moment, I decided to make it happen. With Facebook only a click away, I could have told them about the book dedication on that September day.

No. Better to make it a surprise.

I’d wait for the book to print, and then find a way to get to Mexico City so I could give it to them in person.

Gratefully, we were able to use frequent flier miles and family vacation time to travel to Mexico City this June.

Love is Most Important

Read my previous blog for the backstory on this trip. Click the video link to watch the moment I shared the surprise. Or watch the Spanish version here. In a time when fear and walls threaten to divide us, it is especially important to celebrate the stories of people connecting across languages, cultures and nations. I am so honored to have had the opportunity to live with the Ballesteros Cruz family, and to pay forward my gratitude in my work to create opportunities for all students in our schools.

Share the Love

Who has influenced your love for teaching and leading? Who has influenced your commitment to equity and language learners?

Share the love! Share this video on social media.

I continue to share your comments and EL Excellence book reviews with the Ballesteros Cruz family so they know the ripple effect of their kindness on teachers and students around the world. Tweet how you use #ELExcellence. Post a book review on Amazon.

]]>https://tonyasinger.com/surprise/feed/3Summer Trip of a Lifetimehttps://tonyasinger.com/summer-trip-of-a-lifetime/
https://tonyasinger.com/summer-trip-of-a-lifetime/#respondMon, 11 Jun 2018 23:49:58 +0000https://tonyasinger.com/?p=2258Next week, I fly to Mexico City to see people I haven’t seen in 25 years. I’m bringing my husband, my kids, and a surprise. I’ll tell you about the surprise soon. Now I invite you on my journey with the important backstory, and a hint. Twenty-five years ago I went to Mexico alone against the advice of my family. Warning “You should go somewhere with more culture,” one family…

]]>Next week, I fly to Mexico City to see people I haven’t seen in 25 years. I’m bringing my husband, my kids, and a surprise.

I’ll tell you about the surprise soon. Now I invite you on my journey with the important backstory, and a hint.

Twenty-five years ago I went to Mexico alone against the advice of my family.

Warning

“You should go somewhere with more culture,” one family elder advised. “Like Spain.”

More culture? Seriously? Did he know anything about Mexico? Advice like that made me even more determined to go. Having grown up white in California, I was fed up with deficit thinking about the Spanish language, Mexico, and Mexicans. It was often unspoken. It was wrong. I wanted to learn about the richness of Spanish and Mexican culture from the source.

Family and friends also advised me not to go because I was a woman. I was 21. They were afraid for me traveling alone. To be honest, so was I.

I refused to give into my fear, however. I didn’t want to accept that I was limited by my gender. So, stubbornly, I spent the first month of my summer working to buy a ticket that sent me to Mexico for the next two months. I read books written by women who had traveled alone and studied up on the best tips for playing it safe.

“I struggle with my doubts and fears.” I wrote in my journal two days before my flight. “Is this really what I want?” I asked myself, fearing the answer I knew was true: “Yes.” I was hungry to experience life beyond the comfort of my assumptions, my language, and my culture. It terrified me to do so, but I didn’t want to dismiss my dream due to fear.

The First Night

The day I arrived, I went straight to Cuernavaca, a popular town for language study. I found a sunny hotel recommended by the guidebook. I wore a fake wedding ring. I dressed modestly in a long, frumpy dress. I retired early in my hotel rather than going out.

When five men started drinking in the courtyard outside my room, fortunately, I understood enough Spanish to comprehend their words.

For hours that night, the men talked about breaking into my hotel room, and then tried to do so. All that separated us was a beveled glass door with a flimsy latch, and the dresser I shoved against the door. Through the bathroom window, I saw one of the men was the hotel security guard. He had a gun and the key to my room. These were the days before cell phones, and my hotel room had no phone. It was the most terrifying night of my life. I am forever grateful I escaped untouched, thanks to a combination of my many actions to attempt to save myself, and dumb luck.

Pacing with fight-or-flight adrenaline, I awaited the first light of dawn to escape. I stepped over a man sleeping outside my door and tiptoed out through the gated hotel entry to the cobblestone street. Alert, alive, grateful, and trembling, I walked streets of shops shut tight with corrugated metal doors.

Now What?

Where do I go now? I remember the gut-wrenching sense of my vulnerability, and sheer terror at the thought of staying alone in another hotel. I remember wanting to go home, and knowing that if I did I’d prove my family right. I’d prove my fears right. I’d return to the safety of what I knew and an increased fear of a country I’d hoped to understand.

I didn’t want to let those five men ruin my impression of an entire nation. I had come to Mexico to overcome my fear of the unknown, and if I left now my fear would only grow.

I took the next bus to Mexico City, hoping to figure out a plan before nightfall. If I didn’t, I’d go to the airport. Watching streets blur past the window, I remembered a phone number I’d scribbled on the back of my journal.

Possibility

Rodrigo was a friend of my brother’s. They were exchange students together in Norway. We had met briefly and enjoyed talking in Spanish, a language we both knew much better than Norwegian. He told me, “If you ever go to Mexico City, call my family.”

When the bus arrived in Mexico City, I found a payphone. I stared at Rodrigo’s number. I fumbled with the peso coins in my hand. Dare I call?What would I say?

“Bueno?” a female voice answered on the second ring.

“Esta Rodrigo en casa?” I asked. Is Rodrigo there?

No, he was in Norway. In my rough Spanish, I attempted to tell my story and ask for help. I felt so awkward, imposing myself with a request.

The kind woman on the phone, probably Juana or Claudia, invited me to their home. It was a two-bedroom apartment in Mexico City filled with the love of Rodrigo’s parents Humberto and Juana, sister Claudia, and three brothers Humberto, Alonzo, and Juan Carlos.

“I hope you don’t mind that we are going dancing tonight.” Claudia told me. She and two of her brothers were in their early twenties, like me.

Mind? I love to dance.

What started as a favor for one night evolved into a summer together. The Ballesteros Cruz family brought me into their family as if I were kin. Each night, I slept on a padded bench in the dining room that made a comfortable bed. Each morning, I packed the bedding under the seat and helped with the cooking and shopping and anything I could do to make it easy to have a seventh person in the home.

My Spanish in those days was limited to the present tense and often involved a dictionary in my hand. We all spoke in Spanish with one exception: Claudia wanted to practice English, so when we traveled around the city on buses together she always spoke to me in English. I replied in Spanish. We laughed together at puzzled looks on people’s faces when they saw us together each speaking the language of the others’ home.

We lived in a neighborhood of high-rise apartments and spent most of the summer sharing the ebb and flow of daily life: shopping at the supermercado as romantic ballads of Manáplayed in the background; visiting the open-air market for fresh produce; hanging clothes to dry in the sunny stairwell of the apartment building. I remember many family almuerzos with consume de pollo, and late evening cenas of quesadillas con queso y jamon.

We enjoyed trips and celebrations with extended family. I didn’t always understand the nuances of conversations or events, but I knew I was welcome. I felt so at home with the familia Ballesteros Cruz, I was in tears when the day came for me to return home. We all went to the airport together. Abrazos y lagrimas. Hugs and tears. Goodbye.

Gratitude

I realize now how profoundly that summer impacted my life, and my life’s work. I didn’t know at the time I’d become an educator or specialize in helping schools be more powerful for all kids from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds.

I wonder sometimes how much of my core passion for my work comes from the sense of belonging I experienced with the Ballesteros Cruz family in Mexico that summer. It awes me to think of the ripple effect of one family’s kindness in helping one foreigner feel at home.

I can’t wait to thank Juana and Humberto with a special surprise. For a hint, turn to page xvi of my new book. (Shhhh. It’s a secret.)

Stay tuned for the next part of this story, when we reunite this June for the first time in 25 years.

Follow me on Twitter @TonyaWardSinger for updates during the trip. I’ll post the next part of my story here when I return.

]]>https://tonyasinger.com/summer-trip-of-a-lifetime/feed/0Engage Every Teacher in Raising EL Achievementhttps://tonyasinger.com/engage-every-teacher-in-raising-el-achievement/
https://tonyasinger.com/engage-every-teacher-in-raising-el-achievement/#respondSun, 11 Mar 2018 21:18:57 +0000https://tonyasinger.com/?p=2225The caliber of core teaching has the greatest influence on whether or not our English Learners (ELs) thrive. Consider the following: Three in four U.S. classrooms have at least one student who is an English learner. Even in schools with EL specialists, ELs spend the majority of their instructional day with core classroom teachers. We know this, yet too often forget it when designing EL programs and solutions. Instead, many…

]]>The caliber of core teaching has the greatest influence on whether or not our English Learners (ELs) thrive.

Consider the following: Three in four U.S. classrooms have at least one student who is an English learner. Even in schools with EL specialists, ELs spend the majority of their instructional day with core classroom teachers.

We know this, yet too often forget it when designing EL programs and solutions. Instead, many districts relegate the majority of EL resources to the sidelines of core instruction. For example, specialists pull out ELs from classrooms. In some secondary settings, ELs get tracked into separate courses that don’t give them access to four-year college opportunities.

Professional learning for teaching ELs, if there is any, often is only for EL specialists or emphasizes EL strategies disconnected from the rigorous academic language and literacy expectations of the content areas.

To raise EL achievement, districts must shift priorities from supporting ELs on the sidelines to collaborating with every teacher to transform core instruction in every classroom every day.

TRENDS TO INFORM THIS SHIFT

English Learners are as diverse and different from one another as any student in any classroom. While it is impossible to sum up the needs of 4.6 million ELs with any one statistic, the following trends are important to consider when prioritizing best practices for raising EL achievement:

Most ELs in U.S. classrooms were born in the US, and speak and understand enough English to communicate with teachers and peers.

Many LTELs are remain ELs only because they currently underperform with the academic language and literacy expected for career and college success. What they need is best developed in the context of rigorous core teaching in every classroom, every day.

Certainly, emerging ELs, or newcomers, are an important part of our EL population with their own unique needs. For the purposes of this post, I’m focusing on the vast majority of ELs in our schools, students who are long-term ELs or en route to becoming long-term ELs because their instructional opportunities don’t add up to what they need to excel with core learning.

THE CONSEQUENCES OF SIDELINE SUPPORTS

Sideline supports for ELs do have some value, especially for emerging ELs and ELs with disrupted or limited prior schooling. That said, such supports can also lead to unintended negative consequences. Here are some of the major ones I see in schools that focus EL supports on the sidelines of core teaching:

LOSS OF CORE TEACHER AGENCY FOR ELs. When an EL in a core class struggles, the teacher is more likely to refer that student to a specialist or assume the specialist will address the issue instead of reflecting, “What should I change about my teaching to ensure my student succeeds?”

LOSS OF BELONGING FOR ELs. Ensuring ELs feel a strong sense of belonging in a classroom and school community is important for long-term success. Pull-outs and separate classes can often lead to an increased sense of disconnection.

LOST OPPORTUNITIES TO LEARN LANGUAGE AND CONTENT. The academic language students need to excel with core concepts, texts, and tasks is best learned through active engagement with high-level concepts, texts, and tasks across the disciplines. ELs often lose these opportunities when put in separate classes, especially if those classes water-down tasks and expectations.

EDUCATORS WORK IN SILOS. At all levels from school to district to state, EL specialists and core instructional specialists often work in separate silos. While we share many goals, far too frequently we address them from different angles with disconnected initiatives that serve only to overwhelm busy educators instead of helping them transform their teaching in impactful ways.

A BETTER SOLUTION

There is a better solution. We need to collaborate across roles to build teacher agency and efficacy to excel with ELs. To do so we must:

REFRAME how educators traditionally view ELs as separate with needs addressed by EL specialists and departments to view ELs as essential members of every classroom community of scholars. We must shift every teacher’s ownership of ELs from “your students” to “our students.”

COLLABORATEas leaders and teachers across educational silos to apply our diverse areas of expertise to address a shared vision to move student learning. One model that has seen significant success is when EL specialists shift from pull out to collaboration and co-teaching alongside core classroom teachers (Honigsfeld and Dove, 2014, 2018). EL program directors also strengthen their impact on core teaching when they collaborate with instructional leaders across all departments to align, co-design, and co-lead professional learning that powerfully integrates best practices for ELs, best practices for content areas, and research-based professional learning design.

SYNTHESIZEthe best practices in literacy, language, and content pedagogy to help all students excel with our goals. In the context of helping every child excel, get specific together about what our ELs need right now to thrive with the next level of learning.

EMPOWER busy core teachers with relevant and practical resources and professional learning opportunities that are directly aligned to what and how they teach every day.

This is how I help schools lead transformative shifts in core instruction to teach for equity and EL achievement. This is why I wrote EL Excellence Every Day: The Flip-To Guide to Academic Literacy for core teachers and the specialists, coaches, and leaders who support them. Unlike most EL or literacy books, it synthesizes the best practices from both fields in a practical format, relevant to everyday teaching.

It takes courageous leadership and across-role collaboration to stop doing what isn’t working for ELs, and transform how we lead and teach together so that every classroom and school offers a true pathway to equal opportunity.

Inequitable outcomes in our EL data are our urgent call to action. Dare we use that data to reflect and refine business as usual to create new possibilities in our schools?

]]>https://tonyasinger.com/engage-every-teacher-in-raising-el-achievement/feed/0Writing from the Asheshttps://tonyasinger.com/writing-from-the-ashes/
https://tonyasinger.com/writing-from-the-ashes/#commentsTue, 24 Oct 2017 15:27:31 +0000https://tonyasinger.com/?p=2143Evacuated from my home the first morning of the Tubbs Fire, I found a charred page of the bible amidst the fallen ash. Here's an erasure poem I wrote using that that page to express the devastation and find my way towards resilience. Share these strategies to create and teach erasure poems.

]]>I awake at 2:30 am on Monday, October 9th to the sound of my doorbell ringing again and again. The air is thick with smoke, the sky aglow from approaching fires. We evacuate to the local community center.

Inside we find friends. We make friends. We sit in florescent-lit rooms with families and pets listening to radios, seeking information on cell phones, waiting for news.

Across hours, one text or call at a time, people around us learn their homes have burned. When I walk to my car to get supplies for my family, I find a charred page on the concrete amidst the fallen ash.

Across the next week of fires expanding all over our region, I’m in no state of mind to be creative- just living moment-to-moment with a focus on family and community survival. But when conditions stabilize and my nervous system begins to calm, I find myself coming back to that charred page with the urge to create an erasure poem.

An erasure poem is a poem we create from any text by simply blacking out the words we don’t want, and writing those that remain in sequence to form a poem. Here’s what I wrote using words from that ashen page, an excerpt from a Bible:

Santa Rosa Rising

by Tonya Ward Singer

I.
southward ash
heaven help you
destroy safety
heavens drop
western region
mourning
the whole land

Why Write an Erasure Poem?

Writing is a form of healing. Writing in a journal has value to express what we think and feel. It is also powerful to give ourselves constraints that help us release total control. With an erasure poem, I search, discover and let go. Constraints help drive creativity.

Teach Erasure Poems

If you are a teacher, try it with students. Start with a relevant text. Have students each use it to create their own erasure poems. Beyond the constraints of choosing words in sequence, there are no rules. Make sure students know:

There is no right answer.

Complete sentences are not necessary.

Lists are okay.

Punctuation doesn’t matter.

An erasure can be as short as a few words, or long as many stanzas.

Share and celebrate the many variations students create from same initial text. Build from this shared experience with a common text to have students then choose their own texts to create erasure poems.

To avoid plagiarism, encourage students to avoid copying entire sentences or sections of text (or at least use quotes to indicate the section if they do). Have students credit the original text with their poem.

Reframe Trauma with an Erasure Poem

If you experience a local disaster, once you are safely beyond the survival mode of meeting basic needs, try creating an erasure poem to express or reframe your experience. For example, use a FEMA relief application, insurance claim document or other seemingly impersonal paperwork to create an erasure that expresses an emotion. Use a news report of tragedy to create an erasure that illuminates resilience. Create an erasure with any text to express what feels right to you.

For teachers helping students move forward in the wake of a disaster, follow advice in this article written by the National Association of School Psychologists. Introduce erasure poems as one of many possible options to process and express including movement, silence, art, reading and the regular school routines that bring back a sense of normalcy. Don’t force any student to write about their experiences, and foster story sharing in a safe space that prevents vicarious traumatization. One student may create an erasure that goes deep into emotion, and another may create a silly erasure about a whole different topic that makes others laugh. All are healing.

An erasure poem is a metaphor for what I’m learning after these devastating fires– what is left behind is most powerful. Amidst the devastation, we are experiencing an inspiring amplification of kindness, generosity, and community resilience. There is profound beauty in what remains.

]]>https://tonyasinger.com/writing-from-the-ashes/feed/17 Essentials for Every Teacher to Excel with ELshttps://tonyasinger.com/7-essentials-every-teacher-excel-els/
https://tonyasinger.com/7-essentials-every-teacher-excel-els/#respondMon, 17 Apr 2017 19:29:13 +0000https://tonyasinger.com/?p=2117How do you empower EVERY teacher with agency and efficacy to raise EL achievement? Click this link to my latest publication to learn specific tips for leading professional learning: 7 Essentials for Every Teacher to Excel with ELs. Contact me to explore powerful ways to we can collaborate to raise EL achievement!

]]>https://tonyasinger.com/7-essentials-every-teacher-excel-els/feed/0Sankofa: My 30-Second Poemhttps://tonyasinger.com/sankofa-poem/
https://tonyasinger.com/sankofa-poem/#respondThu, 30 Mar 2017 16:52:35 +0000https://tonyasinger.com/?p=2098I cannot change history, but in this moment I have a choice:
Do I open my eyes to clearly see?
Or bequeath the blindness bequeathed to me?

]]>https://tonyasinger.com/sankofa-poem/feed/0Getting Personal About Race in Americahttps://tonyasinger.com/getting-personal-race-america/
https://tonyasinger.com/getting-personal-race-america/#commentsTue, 28 Mar 2017 03:21:09 +0000https://tonyasinger.com/?p=2074Reading old family letters I discovered something I never expected to find. Join me on this humbling journey.

]]>With full respect for different political opinions, let’s agree on the science: kids must feel safe to learn. Fear gets in the way.

The 2016 U.S. presidential campaign lead to increased anxiety and fear among many students.

How do we address that fear? How will we ensure ALL students feel valued and included in your school community?

Here’s what Principal Guthrie Brown Fleischman told his students the morning after the election at Crespi Middle School in California:

“We live in a democratic nation, sometimes the person you like doesn’t win or someone you fear does win. The good thing about our system is that no one rules forever and there will always be another election. For some of you, you will have the chance to vote in the next election. Educate yourself and make a wise and informed decision.

But bigotry is not a democratic value. Hatred is not a democratic value. Misogyny, homophobia, Islamaphobia, and bullying are not democratic values.

I, and your teachers, and everyone at Crespi Middle School stand with our Muslim students, our Latino students, our lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students. Our immigrant students, and your families. Everyone who feels threatened or afraid right now. We love you and we will protect you. Anyone that wants to deport you or your family will have to go through me first. I stand with you and I support you.

Young women, even though that man has said and done horrible things to women, it is not ok for you to be treated that way. The things he has said are despicable and beneath every single one of you. And young men, I want you to look to your teachers, coaches, your fathers, your uncles, pastors and other men in your life who treat women with respect and dignity. Those are the people who you can follow. I will continue to do everything that I can to be a great example to you with regard to how a true man treats all women with dignity and respect.

Be not afraid, be prepared. Be not timid, be informed. Be not defeated, be inspired to work harder, to read more, to engage in conversation and dialogue, to work with your allies toward a better future for yourself, your family, and your country. Education is now more important than it has ever been as it represents your opportunity to seize power and self determination.

I will leave you with a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” This is not the end of our story, but a moment on the arc toward justice for all.

Thank you, I love you, and I am here for you.”

More Resources:

]]>https://tonyasinger.com/say-students-election/feed/0Courageous Learning with Comicshttps://tonyasinger.com/courageous-learning-with-comics/
https://tonyasinger.com/courageous-learning-with-comics/#commentsTue, 20 Sep 2016 00:26:42 +0000http://tonyasinger.com/?p=1716Problem I don’t draw. Seriously, this is what I’ve told myself for most of my life. Yes, this was the humbling realization I had when reading Carol Dweck’s book Mindset years ago, as in other parts of my life I feel like a walking example of someone with a growth mindset. I thrive on challenges, on learning from failure, and all that. I take risks daily to push myself beyond what…

I don’t draw. Seriously, this is what I’ve told myself for most of my life. Yes, this was the humbling realization I had when reading Carol Dweck’s book Mindset years ago, as in other parts of my life I feel like a walking example of someone with a growth mindset. I thrive on challenges, on learning from failure, and all that. I take risks daily to push myself beyond what I know and can do, as a writer, as an entrepreneur, and as a leader of professional learning in schools.

Except (ahem) when we are talking about drawing. I don’t draw. Or I do draw, and then I see how lame it is and tell myself, “Yep, Tonya, you don’t draw.”

Notice the fixed mindset? I know. It has a flashing neon sign.

Opportunity

Last week I saw an add in my Facebook feed for a Writing and Drawing e-course. I knew it wasn’t for me, but it seemed perfect for my 10-year-old son who loves comics, and could use some learning inspiration right now. Even more perfect, the course teacher, Summer Pierre, is my childhood friend and an accomplished illustrator and author of many books and comics.

So my son signed up for the course.

And I decided to join him. Gulp.

It seemed like a great opportunity to share something, mother and son. If not the art of drawing, well then, the art of modeling a willingness to try something that, to be honest, frightens me. Or, at least, is in the category of “not interested”–because I’d shut that door long ago.

Surprise

We’ve only just done the first week of lessons, and I’m actually drawing on my own. I’m excited to create in pictures. I’m excited to draw. I’ve started using the exercise Summer gave us in class on my own with other topics. And now I’m actually sharing these first attempts at drawing with you.

What happened?

Three Go-To Instructional Techniques

The way Summer got me into drawing is much like the way I inspire reluctant writers to write, and the way I fire up a district full of teachers to engage in peer observation inquiry together. All that changed was the content. The leap the learner had to make, from fear to full engagement, was the same. Here are three features Summer used to help me get out of my fear and engage. I use all of the following in my work with schools:

Invite imperfection. Summer opened the course with an invitation for imperfection. This is the go-to way I know to get writers over their own fears, and to get teachers to want to open their classroom doors to peer observation. Make it fun and inviting to be imperfect.

Practice/Play. Introduce a sense of play by practicing with a structure that makes imperfection fun. In comics class, we did timed drawing drills that took out the anticipation and opportunity for perfection–you just had to get that pen moving and go. As a writer and writing teacher, I do quick writes for a similar reason. As a change leader, I lead improv games “at the speed of fun” to make it fun to fumble. The shift in energy is palpable: we’re laughing, we’re connecting with each other, and we’ve shifted from anticipation to action. And it’s fun.

Connect to What’s Relevant. Want people to draw (or write)? Help them connect to moments and memories that matter in their life. Want teachers to collaborate deeply to change how they teach? Get them fired up about a challenge they want to solve. Relevance motivates.

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What do you resist for fear of failing? What will inspire you to begin?

What do your students resist for fear of failing? How will you inspire them to begin?